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The  Library  of  the  New  York 
Public  Service  Commission 

First  District 

By  Robert  H.  Whitten,  Librarian-Statistician,  New  York 
Public  Service  Commission,  First  District 


I 


! 


Reprint  from 

Special  Libraries  of  March,  1910 
State  Library,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 


18 


SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE  NEW  YORK 
PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION. 

First  District. 

ROBERT  H.  WHITTEN. 

The  Public  Service  Commission  for  the 
First  District,  has  jurisdiction  in  New  York 
City  over  gas  and  electric  companies,  rail- 
roads and  street  railroads,  including  under 
the  Rapid  Transit  Act  the  laying  out  of 
rapid  transit  routes,  the  preparation  and  su- 
pervision of  contracts  for  construction  and 
operation,  and  in  certain  cases  the  granting 
of  franchises.  The  surface,  elevated  and 
subway  companies  in  New  York  City  carry 
annually  over  1,300,000,000  passengers, 
which  exceeds  by  more  than  66  per  cent,  the 
total  number  of  passengers  carried  on  the 
steam  railroads  of  the  entire  country.  The 
gas  companies  of  the  city  produce  more 
than  20  per  cent,  of  the  entire  gas  output 
of  the  United  States. 

The  problems  coming  before  the  commis- 
sion in  relation  to  rates,  service,  equipment 
and  subway  construction  are  numerous  and 
important,  and  involve  in  many  cases  the 
working  out  of  new  methods  and  the  lay- 
ing down  of  policies  of  tremendous  im- 
portance. The  commission  has  a staff  of 
over  600  employes.  About  300  of  these  are 
the  engineers,  draftsmen  and  inspectors  en- 
gaged directiy  in  the  work  of  subway  plan- 
ning and  construction.  The  commission  has 
drawn  into  its  service  highly  trained  statis- 
ticians, economists,  accountants,  lawyers 
and  engineers  of  all  kinds. 

As  a tool  for  the  use  of  this  large  organi- 
zation it  has  established  an  office  library. 
The  library  is  intended  to  be  a working  of- 
fice collection  of  books,  pamphlets  and  peri- 
odical articles  needed  in  the  current  work 
of  the  commission  and  in  the  consideration 
of  the  various  questions  that  come  before 
it.  The  library  aims  to  collect  and  index 
material  in  such  a thorough  and  scientific 
way  that  when  information  is  wanted  in 
relation  to  car  brakes,  gas  meters,  fran- 
chise terms,  Paris  subways,  etc.,  the  ma- 
terial from  which  the  desired  information 
may  be  secured  will  be  at  hand.  The  li- 
brary now  contains  some  2,600  volumes  and 
5,400  pamphlets,  making  the  total  collection 
8,000. 

Selection  and  Collection  of  Material:  In 

a special  office  library,  great  care  must  be 
taken  in  the  selection  and  collection  of  ma- 
terial. Selection  must  be  exhaustive  but 
discriminating.  All  possible  sources  must 
be  searched  for  useful  material,  but  just  as 
great  care  must  be  exercised  to  exclude  ma- 
terial not  needed.  The  efficiency  of  the  col- 
lection is  reduced  by  every  useless  book  it 


contains.  It  is  often  a doubtful  question  as 
to.  whether  a particular  book  should  be 
added  to  the  collection,  and  an  even  more 
troublesome  question  as  to  whether  a book 
now  on  the  shelves  should  be  discarded. 
The  librarian  must  use  his  best  judgment. 
He  will  make  mistakes  both  in  original  se- 
lection and  in  discarding,  but  it  must  be 
done. 

In  the  library  of  the  Pubiic  Service  Com- 
mission we  examine  regularly  the  Publish- 
er’s Weekly,  and  the  lists  of  the  United 
States  and  parliamentary  publications.  We 
get  track  of  most  of  the  books  and  pam- 
phlets desired,  however,  by  a rather  careful 
perusal  of  a number  of  technical  journals 
that  relate  to  public  utilities.  Among  ihe 
most  important  are  Electric  Railway  Jour- 
nal, Light  Railway  and  Tramway  Journal, 
Electrical  World,  Engineering  News,  Pro- 
gressive Age.  Here  we  find  references  to 
the  annual  reports  of  the  various  public 
utility  companies  of  American  and  Euro- 
pean cities  and  to  many  printed  papers  and 
special  reports,  official  or  unofficial,  relating 
to  public  utilities.  The  lists  published  by 
Stone  & Webster  and  the  current  bibli- 
ographies in  the  Journal  of  Political  Econ- 
omy and  American  Political  Science  Re- 
view and  the  Economic  Quarterly  are  also 
useful.  Much  material  has  been  obtained 
by  writing  directly  to  American  consuls  and 
to  the  public  officers  and  company  officials 
in  the  large  cities  of  the  world. 

But  as  important  as  are  the  books,  the 
pamphlets  and  special  reports,  they  are  out- 
ranked in  value  by  the  periodical  article. 
In  the  numerous  general,  economic,  law  and 
technical  periodicals  of  this  and  other  coun- 
tries there  are  many  articles  of  the  utmost 
importance  in  the  routine  work  of  the  com- 
mission, and  in  the  consideration  of  the 
various  problems  that  come  before  it.  The 
library  receives  some  25  periodicals  that 
are  systematically  examined,  for  articles  and 
material  of  use  to  the  commission.  In  ad- 
dition we  examine  the  index  to  iegal  litera- 
ture contained  in  the  Law  Library  Journal, 
the  Readers’  Guide  to  Periodical  Literature 
and  most  important  of  all,  the  Engineering 
Index.  The  Engineering  Index  is  a monthly 
annotated  index  of  the  more  important  ar- 
ticles appearing  in  some  200  American  and 
European  technical  journals.  The  publish- 
ers of  the  Index  undertake  to  supply  copies 
of  the  articles  listed.  This  is  a great  con- 
venience, especially  in  securing  copies  of 
articles  in  foreign  periodicals.  As  soon  as 
the  Index  is  received  it  is  checked  up  and 
an  order  sent  in  for  copies  of  all  the  articles 
of  special  interest. 

Classification.  A special  library  will 
usually  require  a special  classification.  The 
standard  classifications  are  ail  right  for  the 
smaller  public  libraries.  Standard  classifi- 
cations have  been  specially  designed  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  a general  collec- 


SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 


19 


tion.  They  are  usually  a sad  misfit  when 
applied  to  a special  library.  The  special 
working  collection  is  intended  to  serve  very 
definite  needs  and  is  required  to  answer  cer- 
tain definite  problems.  The  purpose  of  the 
classification  is  to  aid  in  supplying  desired 
information  with  speed  and  certainty.  The 
resources  of  the  library  must  be  classified 
around  the  special  problems  that  are  to  be 
solved.  “Close”  classification  is  also  essen- 
tial. There  should  be  a special  heading  or 
subheading  in  the  classification  for  practi- 
cally every  subject,  no  matter  how  minute, 
concerning  which  information  will  be  fre- 
quently wanted. 

The  classification  that  we  have  worked 
out  in  the  library  of  the  Public  Service 
Commission  is  extremely  simple.  The  broad 
subjects  are  arranged  alphabetically.  Sub- 
headings are  arranged  alphabetically  under 
the  main  heading.  States  and  countries'are 
arranged  alphabetically,  and  cities  alphabet- 
ically under  the  state  or  country.  The  al- 
phabet is  much  in  evidence.  The  scheme 
has  the  advantage  of  fitting  in  well  with  an 
alphabetic  catalogue. 

A feature  of  the  classification  is  the  sys- 
tem of  uniform  interchangeable  headings 
and  subheadings.  Certain  subheadings  are 
usfd  uniformly  under  each  of  the  main  util- 
ity headings  and  certain  main  headings  are 
used  also  as  subheadings.  Thus  “Acci- 
dents” appears  as  a main  heading  and  also 
as  a subheading  under  “Gas,”  “Electricity,” 
“Transit,”  “Railroads,”  etc. 

The  notation  used  in  the  classification  is 
a combination  of  letters  and  figures.  Let- 
ters of  the  alphabet  are  used  to  represent 
all  headings  other  than  regional;  e.  g.,  Fr, 
Franchise;  Ra,  Railroad;  Ga,  Gas,  etc.  Re- 
gional headings  are  represented  by  Arabic 
numerals.  States  and  countries  are  always 
designated  by  2 figures  and  cities  by  3 fig- 
ures. These  numbers  are  read  as  decimals, 
though  the  decimal  point  is  uniformly  omit- 
ted; e.  g„  401  Boston  follows  40  Massachu- 
setts and  precedes  41  Michigan.  The  same 
notation  means  the  same  thing  wherever  it 
occurs.  Ac  always  means  Accidents,  wheth- 
er as  a main  heading  or  as  a subheading; 
e.  g.,  Ac,  Accidents;  GaAc,  Gas- Accidents; 
RaAc,  Railroads-Accidents,  etc.  The  same 
number  is  always  used  for  a given  city  or 
country  wherever  it  occurs  in  the  classifica- 
tion; Ga401,  Gas-Boston;  Ra401,  Railroads- 
Roston,  etc. 

The  above  are  some  of  the  main  features 
of  the  classification.  They  are  subject, 
however,  to  numerous  elaborations,  modifi- 
cations and  exceptions. 

Arrangement  of  Material:  All  magazines, 
clippings  and  pamphlets  are  kept  in  large 
vertical  file  drawers.  The  clippings  are 
usually  placed  in  manila  folders.  They  are 
arranged  under  exactly  the  same  headings 
as  the  books  on  the  shelves.  Under  each 
heading  they  are  arranged  chronologically 


according  to  year  of  publication.  Each  ar- 
ticle or  pamphlet  has  a separate  file  num- 
ber, corresponding  to  the  book  number  in 
the  case  of  volumes  on  the  shelves. 

Of  the  25  periodicals  received,  only  6 are 
bound.  Articles  of  interest  from  periodicals 
that  we  do  not  bind  are  clipped,  put  in  fold- 
ers and  placed  in  the  vertical  file  drawers. 
The  same  treatment  is  also  applied  to  the 
numerous  special  copies  of  periodicals  not 
taken  regularly,  but  which  are  purchased 
because  they  contain  some  article  of  inter- 
est. The  vertical  file  drawers  keep  the  ma- 
terial free  from  dust  and  offer  a maximum 
of  convenience  in  consultation.  The  ma- 
terial is  compact  and  can  be  easily  and 
quickly  consulted. 

Catalogue.  The  card  catalogue  is  in  three 
main  divisions,  each  alphabetically  ar- 
ranged : 

First — Author  and  title. 

Second — Subject  headings. 

Third — Regional  headings. 

The  subject  headings  used  in  the  classi- 
fication are  retained  in  the  catalogue  and 
used  in  their  various  combinations.  Maga- 
zine articles  and  pamphlets  are  catalogued 
just  as  fully  as  books,  and  the  cards  for  the 
articles  are  placed  in  the  catalogue  with  the 
cards  for  the  books.  Chapters  or  parts  of 
books  relating  to  specific  subjects  are  sepa- 
rately catalogued.  A feature  of  the  cata- 
logue is  the  complete  entry  under  the  re- 
gional heading.  Every  subject  entry  relat- 
ing to  a particular  city  or  country  is  dupli- 
cated under  the  city  or  country  heading. 
We  find  it  a great  convenience  to  be  able  to 
find  everything  we  have  relating  to  Paris, 
for  example,  together  under  that  heading. 

We  try  to  realize  that  it  is  not  so  much 
particular  books  or  sets  of  books  that  we 
need  to  classify  and  index  as  it  is  the  spe- 
cific information  contained  in  the  books.  Our 
catalogue  is  not  used  nearly  so  frequently  to 
find  the  location  of  a particular  book  as  it 
is  to  find  information  in  regard  to  some  par- 
ticular subject.  The  more  specialized  a li- 
brary becomes  the  more  important,  as  well 
as  practicable  it  becomes  to  classify  and 
index  information  rather  than  books  or  sets 
of  books. 

Bulletins  and  Publicity:  A library  bulle- 
tin is  issued  once  or  twice  a week  contain- 
ing references  to  current  books,  articles  and 
pamphlets  received  by  the  library.  Each 
bulletin  is  a single  sheet.  It  is  mimeo- 
graphed and  sent  out  to  about  250  officers 
and  employes  of  the  Commission.  The  per- 
son receiving  the  bulletin  checks  in  the 
margin  the  books  or  articles  he  desires  to 
see,  signs  his  name  to  the  sheet  and  returns 
it  to  the  library.  On  receipt  of  this  sheet 
at  the  library,  the  book  or  article  desired  is 
sent  if  available,  and  if  not,  the  name  of  the 
applicant  is  placed  on  a reserve  list.  Often 
it  seems  desirable  to  bring  a particular  ar- 
ticle or  book  to  the  special  attention  of  some 


20 


SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 


officer  or  employe.  To  do  this  the  item  in 
question  is  stamped  in  red  with  a rubber 
stamp  marked  “special"  on  the  copy  sent  to 
the  particular  person  in  question.  An  ar- 
ticle or  book  that  will  probably  be  of  inter- 
est to  but  one  or  two  or  three  persons  is 
omitted  from  the  bulletin  and  is  sent  direct- 
ly to  the  individuals  interested  with  a blank 
form  stating  that  it  is  being  transmitted  for 
inspection  and  the  request  to  return  as  soon 
as  possible.  In  these  ways  we  attempt  to 
carry  out  the  recognized  function  of  the  of- 
fice library,  that  of  bringing  promptly  to  the 
attention  of  the  officers  and  employes  of  the 
Commission  the  new  books  and  the  articles 
of  interest  in  connection  with  their  official 
duties. 

The  bulletin  is  a notable  success  in  di- 
rectly increasing  the  use  of  the  library.  It 
also  has  a publicity  feature.  It  is  a con- 
stant reminder  of  the  existence  of  the  Li- 
brary and  of  the  nature  of  the  material  that 
may  be  found  there.  The  office  library  is 
an  innovation  and  the  habit  of  turning  to  it 
for  information  must  be  acquired.  Various 
forms  of  publicity  should  be  resorted  to,  to 
aid  the  development  of  the  library  habit.  I 
think  we  could  and  should  do  more  in  this 
direction  than  we  have  in  the  past. 

Reference  Lists:  Numerous  special  ref- 
erence lists  are  prepared  from  time  to  time 
on  subjects  of  special  interest.  Our  close 
classification,  analytic  catalogue  entries  and 
combined  periodical  and  book  catalogue 
make  the  preparation  of  special  reference 
lists  much  simpler.  Often  all  that  is  re- 
quired is  a straight  copy  of  the  catalogue 
entries. 

Blue  Print  Methods:  We  are  experiment- 
ing on  a new  form  of  catalogue  that  prom- 
ises certain  distinct  advantages.  The  cata- 
logue entries  on  each  subject  are  arranged 
chronologically  and  copied  on  letter  size 
onion  skin  paper.  This  makes  a negative 
from  which  a blue  print  may  be  taken.  A 
single  sheet  or  sheets  being  devoted  to  each 
subject,  it  is  possible  to  add  future  acces- 
sions to  the  original  sheet  without  the  neces- 
sity of  recopying.  We  can  thus  have  always 
an  up-to-date  catalogue  on  loose  sheets.  It 
is  of  course  easier  to  consult  a catalogue 
with  five  to  twenty  entries  on  each  page 
than  to  finger  over  the  cards  in  a card  cata- 
logue. Another  advantage  will  be  that  we 
can  make  portions  of  the  catalogue  available 
in  the  various  bureaus  of  the  Commission. 
Thus  we  can  supply  the  Franchise  bureau 
with  a loose  leaf  always  up-to-date  catalogue 
of  franchise  material,  the  bureau  of  Statis- 
tics and  Accounts  with  a catalogue  of  ac- 
counts, finance  and  statistics,  and  similarly 
for  the  various  other  bureaus  and  depart- 
ments. Another  advantage  will  be  that  we 
can  always  supply  a blue  print  copy  of  any 
part  or  parts  of  the  catalogue.  It  seems 
probable  that  these  will  in  large  measure 
take  the  place  of  the  special  reference  lists 


that  we  have  been  preparing.  A reference 
list  is  out  of  date  as  soon  as  it  is  made.  The 
advantage  of  having  available  an  always  up- 
to-date  list  is  evident. 

Collection  of  Information:  The  library 
also  compiles  data  on  various  subjects,  and 
particularly  in  relation  to  public  utility  su- 
pervision and  conditions  in  other  states  and 
cities.  To  a considerable  extent,  the  quali- 
fications essential  for  the  scientific  selection 
and  collection  of  material  are  the  same  as 
those  required  for  the  compilation  of  the 
information  contained  in  the  material.  These 
functions  are  therefore  combined  and  the 
library,  so  far  particularly  as  conditions  in 
ot^er  stages  and  cities  are  concerned,  both 
collects  and  collates  information.  Thus  de- 
tailed reports  have  been  prepared  in  rela- 
tion to  the  supervision  of  street  railways  in 
England  and  Prussia,  the  subway  system  of 
Paris  and  the  laws  and  experience  of  various 
cities  in  relation  to  the  indeterminate  fran- 
chise and  in  relation  to  profit  sharing  as  a 
method  of  franchise  compensation.  Numer- 
ous brief  comparative  statements  have  also 
been  prepared.  Much  of  our  most  valuable 
information  has  been  drawn  from  the  laws, 
methods  and  experience  of  the  great  cities 
of  Europe. 

I think  that  this  combination  of  library 
work  and  collation  or  investigation  is  a prac- 
tical one.  The  librarian  gains  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  contents  of  the  material 
in  his  collection.  His  direct  use  of  the  ma- 
terial shows  him  the  weak  places  in  it  and 
enables  him  to  fill  up  the  missing  portions 
that  are  so  absolutely  essential  to  an  effi- 
cient working  collection.  Active  use  of  his 
collection  helps  the  librarian,  moreover,  to 
get  away  from  the  habit  of  looking  at  the 
book  as  the  unit  of  library  work.  It  helps 
him  to  a realization  that  it  is  facts  and  in- 
formation that  it  is  his  function  to  classify, 
arrange  and  make  readily  available  rather 
than  particular  books  or  sets  of  books. 

Quick  Service:  The  necessity  for  quick 
service  is  a fundamental  and  ell  sufficient 
reason  for  the  existence  of  the  special  li- 
brary. Information  to  be  of  use  in  the 
every-day  work  of  the  world  must  be  quickly 
available.  Quick  service  multiplies  use — 
this  is  as  true  of  libraries  as  it  is  of  transit 
systems.  The  importance  of  quick  service 
should  therefore  condition  and  mould  the 
entire  organization  of  the  special  or  office 
library,  its  classification,  arrangement  and 
cataloguing. 

In  the  development  of  a special  library 
emphasis  needs  to  be  laid  on  these  two 
things:  First,  the  necessity  for  quick  serv- 
ice, and,  second,  that  the  service  rendered 
is  for  the  purpose  of  giving  information  and 
that  the  library  is  not  merely  dealing  in 
copies  or  titles  of  books  and  articles.  While 
we  hold  these  ideals  in  the  library  of  which 
I am  speaking,  we  still  lack  much  of  their 
complete  realization. 


